An Introvert With An Extrovert Button!

Book Tour Stop – Chicago June 2017

Even though I had a trip through Chicago in May this year, I didn’t leave the airport to enjoy the city. The last time I was here was about 5 or 6 years ago when I came out for a training on October. That week had been rainy and yucky. The first time I went to Chicago was now nearly 20 years ago when I was broke and working at a summer camp in Wisconsin. I clearly have a weird history with Chicago. I was there primarily for the American Library Association Conference, so most of my activities were focused around this. Here are some photos I took over the weekend.

Chicago, IL 2017

I didn’t take a lot of pictures as I walked around on my first day at the conference. I was staying a few blocks away from Millennium Park and remembered, from my last trip, a nice cultural center there. I also realized I could check out the main library on my way over. I admit, I hoped they would have a little gift shop where I could buy a little sticker, postcard, or something special for my travel journal. I wasn’t in luck at either place, but the Cultural Center was originally the main library. The interior is beautiful and I had to take some pictures. Now it hosts art exhibits and places to sit.

After the conference exhibit halls opened, I made my way to the new American Writer’s Museum. I was really excited about this event because poet Nicki Giovanni was speaking. I didn’t get close enough to see her, but she was fantastic. She talked about her childhood, read some poems, and had one of her students read his work. The museum was beautiful. I loved the tapestries of illustrations from children’s books.

On my last night, I went to an event at the House of Blues, but after that I walked over to Navy Pier. It was nothing like the evening Emma, Fredrick, Seth, and Louisa would have been there. I was out too early and it wasn’t rainy. I loved the Rolling Stone lips placed around the Pier. It was too late to take a ride on the lake. I walked around, bought a few souvenirs, and went back to the hotel, exhausted.

It was a fantastic trip and an amazing conference. It was fun to see another city through Emma’s eyes. Next stop: Brookline, MA!